Tournament Results

Waltham Chess Club - March 2019

Fellow Waltham CC Players,

On my father's 87th brithday, I celebrated with all my friends at Waltham Chess Club with the launching of the first ever Waltham Chess Club LADDER! It was awesome to have 17 players give the Ladder Format a try, and I received rave reviews for it. On this occasion, we made this an Unrated event to try it out. Should this format prove popular enough to elevate it, we'll do some Rated events down the road. We may also put Unrated Ladders on our Pizza Nights.

The best part of the Ladder is that players are paired on a rolling basis, instead of having to wait until all games are finished before being re-paired. Additionally, because games can finish quickly, players can get to play far more than 4 games, as many as 8 in some cases. Therefore, there's time for lots of chess for everyone ongoing.

We welcomed a new player Sean Barkowsky and hope he will join us on our future Unrated nights.

Waltham Chess Club - October 2018

Fellow Waltham CC players,

In my nearly 10 years as Waltham TD to date, I have overseen 50 Wild Cards, and we celebrated the 50th this past Friday. Happily it was well attended by a big group who were hungry and enthusiastic enough to devour at least ten different snacks the whole night. Oh yes, they played some chess too.

Early in the evening we received a brief visit from Joe Arena, son of the recently deceased Pat Arena, with his own son. Unfortunately he did not stay long enough for me to get to meet him, and I hope he will return over the next five weeks as we honor his father during the Pat Arena Memorial Open.

On Friday 10/19 begins the Waltham CC 2018 Club Championship & Pat Arena Memorial Open. The competitors are Steve Winer (a past Champion returning to try to regain his title), Suraj Ramanthan, Jerry Li, Karthik Padmanabhan, Ross Eldridge, and Alexander Meng. We have several new competitors in this field, and it will be a fascinating competition to watch.

Our newest player, Daniel Korbacher, has already distinguished himself as a relatively new USCF player by winning prizes at each of the events he's played in. We hope he'll continue to come and improve as he plays in diverse time-controls tournaments.

Please notify me if you enjoyed having a Thematic and would like to see more of them. We can make them Rated and can feature other Openings or even have a single Opening used all night.

Blitz next week. Thanks and see you over the board.

Waltham Chess Club - February 2018: Free Wild Card #47

Fellow Waltham Chess Club players,

First, the 2018 Amateur Team East is in progress as I write this, and one Team has Denys Shmelov, Robert King, Todd Chase, Matt Phelps, a second Team has Jerry Li, Alan Song, Alex Yu, and Bernie Xu. There are several other MA Teams. Good luck to all of them.

And at Waltham CC, I'm very happy to get back into high attendance for our Wild Cards. Also, this was the first blitz Wild Card in quite a while, and I had forgotten how strange G/4 d2 feels in comparison to G/5 d0.

Waltham Chess Club - June 2017: SUMMERTIME! 960Chess

Fellow Chess-Players,

It has been a long time since I have posted any tournament results on Waltham Chess Club's website. Since then there have been a lot of changes on Waltham Chess Club's schedule, and one of the more recent ones is the addition of 960Chess, or Fischer Random.

At our second 960Chess Summertime! Tournament on June 23, 2017, we drew in 12 players. The major procedural change from last time was to randomize the positions better by drawing them directly off the chessgames.com website instead of pre-printing them. This change definitely made the chosen positions much more varied.

SM IM Denys Shmelov, Robert King, and Anand Nair split 1st, 2nd , 3rd, and Under 1800 Prizes. Highlight and Upset Game of the Night: Vitaliy Ryabinin defeated IM Denys Shmelov in Round 2. Evidently 960Chess is tricky for players at all levels!

Waltham Chess Club - August 2013: Free Wild Card #21

Waltham Pizza never ceases to amaze me. They had all my pizzas ready right on schedule, and we got to try a new flavor - White, with garlic, onions, and olives. Rave reviews!

Seventeen players went at it tonight, and we played G/15 d3. By popular acclamation, for future votes at Wild Cards, we'll substitute G/15 d0 (five round) for G/13 d0 (six round).

We also plan to start rotating time controls of G/30 d5, G/20 d3, and Rated Blitz among the established time controls G/10 d3, G/40 d5, and Unrated Blitz that will remain our monthly staples. If anyone has a preference, please shoot me an e-mail.

Waltham Chess Club - July 2013: G/5

Our numbers for our final event in July slipped slightly to 16, but we had a fun time nonetheless. The Standings are given on my Blog at http://xenophon98.wordpress.com/2013/07/28/wcc-june-g5-standings-72613/. IM Denys Shmelov had first place secured by the fifth round, and Gregory Kaden and Harold Moye took second place, with Ilya Rozonoyer taking the Under 1700 Prize. For the first time in months, I got to play Bughouse afterwards, and enjoyed it immensely; too bad I have missed out on it for so long! Thanks to all who came.

Waltham Chess Club - July 2013: Free Wild Card #20

Tonight was one of the most phenomenal turnouts we have seen for a holiday weekend - 26 players! - and if we had been able to give out prizes, we would have given out all the ones available, for the first time ever! All we need to do is to keep our numbers this high for rated events, and then we will give out all the prizes.
The Standings are given on my Blog at http://xenophon98.wordpress.com/2013/07/06/wcc-free-wild-card-20-standings-7513/.
We were happy to welcome back Alex Cherniack, and we congratulate him on sharing First Prize overall with Todd Chase.

Waltham Chess Club - June 2013: G/5

We had a decent turnout of 19 players for our final event in June. The Standings are given on my Blog at http://xenophon98.wordpress.com/2013/06/30/wcc-june-g5-standings-62813/. IM Denys Shmelov edged Steven Winer for first place, and Vitaliy Ryabinin and Peter Teodorescu split the Under 1700 Prize. A brand-new player, Alex Yu, was the dark-horse winner of the Under 1200 prize. Way to go, Alex; we'll be keeping an eye on you! Thanks to all who came.

Waltham Chess Club - May 2013: Free Wild Card #19

Pizza and lots of drinks (thanks to Harold Moye and Stephen Carlin) kept everyone well fed and quaffed during our Wild Card event just prior to Memorial Day weekend. This made for a good respite in our 2013 Club Championship. The Standings are given on my Blog at http://xenophon98.wordpress.com/2013/05/26/standings-from-waltham-cc-free-wild-card-19-52413/. Gregory Kaden came in first place just ahead of Erik Siggelkoe, Robert J. King, and Harold Moye. Thanks to everyone who came, and we'll see you over the board again soon.

Waltham Chess Club - March 2012

Waltham Chess Club is getting ready for its first Club Championship in several years, to be held in June over five weeks. We will have a Master Invitational with five rounds, one per night, and the rest of the field will play two rounds of G/45 per night. The fee will be $15 per night, with a discounted rate of $40 for the entire event, and a discounted rate for Masters. Bragging rights!

We also are considering introducing two new Prize levels to our general tournaments: Under-2000 and Under-1300. Player attendance and fund levels permitting, these two prizes (single first place) will be given either to separate sections or to the top players under the thresholds in a single section. Our increasing player numbers have made it possible for us to expand our Prizes, and I am grateful to all the players who have come regularly to Waltham Chess Club and swelled our numbers.

Some highlights from the last few months:

GM Alexander Ivanov paid us another visit in November and swept the November First Friday with a perfect score of 7 points.

Resident master Steven Winer won the Open Section of the Veteran's Day G/40 (one of many events he won), and Syed Al-Mamun took the Under 1500 Section. Both won with perfect scores of 3 points.

Masters Steven Winer and Lawyer Times tied with 3.5 points out of 4 in the Open Section of the November G/20, while Steven Malcolm Sparber took the Under 1400 Section with a perfect score of 4 points.

Masters IM Denys Shmelov and Steven Winer tied with 6 points out of 7 in the January First Friday.

We had a four-way tie in the Snowbound G/40: IM Denys Shmelov, Steven Winer, Alex Cherniack, and David Martin, all with 2.5 points out of 3.

IM Denys Shmelov edged Steve Winer with 6.5 points out of 7 in the March First Friday.

And finally, last but not least: we had a four-way tie in the Under 1100 Section of the March G/20: Prakalya Chandrasekar, Evan MacLure, Jesse Liu, and David Peng. These last three players were all brand new that night, and scored 3 out of 4 points. This was the largest event we had run recently with a record turnout of 32 players.

See you at the Club Championship!

Nicholas P. Sterling, Ph.D.
Waltham Chess Club, Tournament Director

Waltham Chess Club - November 2011

Our Holiday Party will be held on December 16. There will be an unrated G/5 or G/10, and then Bughouse! Bring food! We usually have more food than we know what to do with, but it doesn't matter - bring more!

Some highlights from the last few months:

Steven Winer, our resident Master, took the May First Friday with a score of 6.5 out of 7 points.

GM IM Denys Shmelov was a winner in every summer event he played in, including taking a perfect 7-point score in the July First Friday and a perfect 4-point score in the July G/20.

Friday the 13th was a most lucky night for IM Denys Shmelov, Steven Winer, and Todd Chase, who tied for first place with scores of 6 out of 7 points in the May Triskadekaphobia.

How about a four-way tie? Andrew Liu and Jesse Nicholas tied for first place with Shmelov and Winer with 2 points each in the Stanley Cup G/60 (so named in honor of the Bruins' victory earlier that week).

How about a five-way tie? Andrew Luff and master Lawyer Times tied with Shmelov, Winer, and Chase with 2 points each in the Hazy and Humid G/60.

In the Under-1500 Section of the Mid-Summer G/60, Sam Lurie, Marcus Luzzi, and Andrew Boyer tied for first place with 2 points. Great job, guys!

Steven Winer, Evan Rabin, and Andrew Liu split first place three ways with 3.5 out of 4 points in the September G/20.

In our first ever G/40 (replacing G/60 by popular request), the Autumnal Equinox G/40, Steven Winer, Lawyer Times, and Andrew Boyer tied three ways for first place in the Open Section with 2.5 out of 3 points. Edward Varvak took sole first place in the under-1000 section - way to go, Edward!

Robert Perez, a new Master for Waltham CC, edged Steven Winer in the October First Friday to take sole first place with a perfect score of 7 points. Congratulations, Robert!

Another new Master for us, Marek Andrzej Stryjecki, tied with Steven Winer for first place in the *HOWLING!* G/40 with 2.5 out of 3 points. Andrew Luff took the Under-1500 Section with a perfect score of 3 points.

Finally, our five-week Club Championship comes next year in June. This will be a 10-round G/45 Swiss, 2 rounds per Friday night. The fee will be $30 per night, but will be discounted for those who come regularly to our Club. There will be daily prizes for each night and a first- and second-place Grand Prize at the end. Advance entries are recommended.

See you at our Party and enjoy your holiday season!

Nicholas P. Sterling, Ph.D.
Waltham Chess Club, Tournament Director

Waltham Chess Club - October 2011: Ghosts and Goblins G/5

Plenty of Halloween candy was on hand to greet chess trick-or-treaters at our Blitz event on 10/28/11. The Wall-Chart is on my blog, http://xenophon98.wordpress.com/2011/11/05/77/. Steven Winer, Robert Perez, and Evan Rabin tied in first place with 10 points apiece out of 12. Thanks to all who played.

Waltham Chess Club - April 2011

Waltham Chess thanks Jim Walker, self-described as "photo editor of the Waltham News Tribune and wickedlocalwaltham.com and proud resident of the Watch City since 2008", for coming to visit our Club in January and posting a great article with pictures in the February Tribune. We came to know Jim last December after he published his blog entry "So many chess tables, so little chess..."(http://blogs.wickedlocal.com/brandnewwatch/2010/12/14/so-many-chess-tables-so-little-chess/#ixzz1KIyzSPTI), with his first mention of the Waltham Club. You may find the final article at the Wicked Local Waltham site:(http://www.wickedlocal.com/waltham/photos/x1240515108/Waltham-Chess-Club).

We also thank SM IM Denys Shmelov for coming so faithfully week after week through 2010. He has started graduate school at University of Connecticut, and we wish him the best of luck. We additionally congratulate him on receiving his first GM norm at Berkeley.

Finally, we will be hosting a Waltham Club Championship in June, 2012. More details to come.

Some highlights from the last few months:

Allen Wang won the under-1500 section in the December First Friday with 6.5 out of 7 points. Great job, Allen!

There was a four-way 2-point tie for first place at the Fireplace G/60 among IM Denys Shmelov, Todd Chase, Daniel Shapiro, and Nithin Kavi.

GM Alexander Ivanov swept the January First Friday with a perfect score of 7 points, and the January G/20 with a perfect score of 4 points.

Yurij Zhaurov and Peter Teodorescu tied, with 2 points apiece, for first place at the MLK G/60.

There was a three-way 6-point tie (out of 7 points) at the February First Friday among Todd, Yurij, and Andrew Liu.

Todd and Tian Rossi tied, with 2 points apiece, for first place in the Open Section of the Valentine's Day G/60. Steve Carlin and Justin Wu tied , with 2 points apiece, for first place in the under 1500 section.

Vitaliy Ryabinin held tough at the March First Friday and won with 4.5 points out of 5. Way to go, Vitaliy!

There was a three-way 3-point tie (out of 4 points) at the March G/20 among Todd, Andrew Liu, and Edward Astrachan.

Steve Winer, a 2400-rated Master, and Edward Astrachan tied, with 2 points apiece, for first place in the Open Section of the College Hoops G/60. Akshay Saini, Alex Kaye, and Brandon Wu tied , with 2 points apiece, for first place in the under 1600 section.

Steve Winer swept the April First Friday with a perfect score of 7 points,a and the April G/20 with a perfect score of 4 points. We welcome Steve aboard at the Waltham Chess Club and hope to have him at many more tournaments.

Steve Winer and Simon Slutsky tied, with 2 points apiece, for first place in the Open Section of the Marathon G/60. Akshay Saini, Andrew Luff, and Eddie Wang tied , with 2 points apiece, for first place in the under 1600 section. Great job to all the winners.

Waltham Chess Club - November 2010

In September Waltham Chess Club collaborated with Howard Goldowsky and Back Pages Bookstore to host an event at the bookstore (on Waltham's Moody Street) on the 11th. The event was designed to promote the book Masters of Technique, edited by Goldowsky and published by Mongoose Press. Included was a simultaneous exhibition by Senior Master IM Denys Shmelov, followed by a blitz tournament run by Michael Gosselin and Todd Chase. All of the proceeds were donated to charity. I'd like to thank Howard and Back Pages for organizing this event and inviting us to participate, and Denys, Michael and Todd for running the simul and blitz tournament. The participating players enjoyed themselves and a few copies of Masters were sold. We hope the bookstore will host another such event in the future and that, with more effective promotion, more players will come.

Waltham Chess Club had a slight dip in attendance in September, but came back strong in October, and in November we had our highest turnout in my tenure, 20 players. I am especially pleased with the high inflU.. of new players, an average of one per week.

Check out our newly designed website at http://walthamchessclub.org. Vitaliy Ryabinin worked really hard to get it published for us, and we thank him for the high-class upgrade.

Some highlights from the last few months:

SM IM Denys Shmelov marches on! Among several victories, he had a perfect score of 7 points at the November First Friday, taking clear first place over the next contender (with 5.5 points).

Evan Rabin split first prize with IM Denys Shmelov with scores of 3.5 out of 4 points in the November G/20. The two players drew in the prize round. We were pleased to welcome Evan from Brandeis University, and we thank him for his blog entry (http://adventuresofrabin.blogspot.com/2010/11/excursion-to-other-side-of-waltham.html) about his experience at our Club.

Todd Chase split first prize with IM Denys Shmelov in the Open Section of the Day of Thanks G/60, with 2 points. Jesse Klimov took the Under-1600 prize with a score of 2 points.

With 6.5 points out of 7, Todd Chase edged IM Denys Shmelov (with 6 points) to win the October First Friday. It was Todd's night!

At the November First Friday, Brandon Wu and Allen Wang split first prize in the Under-1300 section with scores of 6.5 out of 7 points.

Leonardo Lopez won the Under-1500 section with 2 points at the Sukkot G/60 in September.

Brandon Wu and Peter Teodorescu split first prize in the Under -1300 section with 2 points at the Fright Night G/60.

We'll see you in 2011 - Happy Holidays!

Nicholas P. Sterling, Ph.D.

Waltham Chess Club

Tournament Director

Waltham Chess Club - August 2010

The highlight of our summer was the observance of our 100th First Friday G/10 tournament this August. The first ever First Friday was directed by Michael Gosselin back in 1996, making our 100th a long-awaited watershed to reached. Everyone who came brought lots of munchies to nosh on and made the event a great success.

Another event upcoming (as of the time of writing) will be held at Back Pages Bookstore on Waltham's Moody Street on Saturday, September 11, from 12 PM to 6 PM. The event will include a simultaneous exhibition by Senior Master IM Denys Shmelov, followed by a blitz tournament run by Michael Gosselin and Todd Chase. All of the proceeds will be donated to charity. I'd like to thank Howard Goldowsky for organizing this event and inviting Waltham Chess Club to participate.

Our attendance numbers this summer have stayed consistently high, between 16 and 20 players, with occasional dips when players were away on vacation. We expect our numbers to return to full strength from September onward.

The Waltham Chess Club meets every Friday evening from 7 PM through the evening, sometimes burning the post-midnight oil. Our website is http://walthamchessclub.org, including directions to our site at the IBM Building (404 Wyman Street in Waltham), and our schedule of events (which can also be found on the MACA website calendar).

Some highlights from the last few months:

IM Denys Shmelov has continued to march through tournament after tournament in winning style. Perfect 7-point scores at the June and July First Fridays, a perfect 4-point score at the June G/20 - congratulations to Denys!

The Hot and Steamy G/60 in July featured a remarkable four-way 2-point tie for first among Denys, Todd Chase, Edward Astrachan, and Andrew Liu.

Frank Sisto, Todd Chase, and Geoffrey Collins tied three ways for first place with 3 points out of 4 each in the Open Section. Vitaliy Ryabinin took sole first place in the Under-1400 Section with a perfect score of 4 points.

Erik Siggelkoe took sole first place at the August First Friday with a score of 6.5 out of 7 points.

Brandon Wu took sole first place in the Under 1500 Section at the Aloha G/60 in August with a perfect score of 2 points. Way to go, Brandon!

And I continue to welcome game scores to publish as articles.

We thank all of you who have come to play at Waltham Chess Club.

Nicholas P. Sterling, Ph.D.

Waltham Chess Club

Tournament Director

Waltham Chess Club – June 2010

Pizza! The staff of life for chess players.

On the Friday before Memorial Day, our club hosted a Free Pizza Night to escort in the MA Open weekend. 11 players appeared, including a few new players and one returning after a long absence; together we made quick work of 3 16” pizzas. The winner of that night’s 5-round G/15 was a new player for us, Igor Gavrilov, who comes to us from Skopje, Macedonia. He put his FIDE experience to good work that Friday night, winning the event with a score of 4.5 out of 5 points.

The Waltham Chess Club meets every Friday evening from 7 PM through the evening, sometimes burning the post-midnight oil. Our website is http://walthamchessclub.org, including directions to our site at the IBM Building (404 Wyman Street in Waltham), and our schedule of events (which can also be found on the MACA website calendar).

The "Top 10" free or low-cost benefits that the club offers are:

Covered Parking Garage with lots of space!

A great, clean and secure facility with low overhead that keeps the club's costs down!

No membership dues! (currently)

Low tournament entry fees, with a no-prize option and free to Masters!

Friday Night games - can play all night

Weekly 1-Night Tournaments

Multiple Time Controls

Varied levels of chess members (rating-wise)

Occasional Free Food and Special Events

BugHouse and Games for Fun after regular tournaments.

Some highlights from the last few months:

Our resident master, SM IM Denys Shmelov, swept all the events that he came to since my last report, with perfect scores at several of them. Congratulations to Denys. Watch next issue for an annotated game of his.

Andrew Liu deserves an honorary mention for defeating Denys at the April First Friday and drawing with him at the April G/25. In addition Andrew took sole second place at the Patriot’s Day G/60, with 1.5 out of 2 points; and split second place three ways with Glen Soucy and Tian Rossi at the May First Friday, with 4.5 out of 7 points. Good job, Andrew, Glen, and Tian.

Lawyer Times split first place with Denys at the Memorial Day G/60. We are glad to have him playing at our club again.

Edward Astrachan and Steve Desouza split first prize at the March Madness G/60. (No Denys?)

We welcomed back Paul Sciaraffa, Carlos Avalos, and Tomas Ramirez, and we are really pleased to have many new Scholastic and other players join us. Our numbers grew considerably these past few months, and it is all thanks to you, the players who have come to our club.

Finally, I intend to publish regularly in Chess Horizons one featured game from a WCC tournament. If you have a score of a game that you’d like to see in print, turn it in to me and I’ll write up an article. Annotations are welcome but not necessary.

Thanks to all those who have come to Waltham on Friday night. We love to have you!

Nicholas P. Sterling, Ph.D.

Waltham Chess Club

Tournament Director

Waltham Chess Club – February 2010

We closed out 2009 in high spirits with a highly successful Holiday Party on 12/18/09. Everyone who came brought so much pizza and so many delicious desserts, snacks, and soda that we were all floating in food within an hour. We ran a 3-Round Game/10 tournament, which Max Chiu-hsin Lu won with a perfect score of 3 points; we followed that with a team quad Bughouse tournament., which Team I (Todd Chase and Hao-Yuan Pai) won with a perfect score of 3 points. This is certainly the first Bughouse Tournament WCC has held for a long time, if ever, and I look forward to many more. Thanks to everyone who came, brought food, and played.

The Waltham Chess Club meets every Friday evening from 7 PM through the evening, sometimes burning the post-midnight oil. Our website is http://walthamchessclub.org, including directions to our site at the IBM Building (404 Wyman Street in Waltham), and our schedule of events (which can also be found on the MACA website calendar).

Some highlights from the last few months:

Tomas Girnius took first place in the Festival of Lights G/60 in December, with a score of 2 points.

Frank Sisto took first place in the First Friday in January with a score of 6.5 out of 7 points.

We were delighted to welcome International GM Arthur Bisguier, and welcome back Edward Epp, to the MLK G/60 in January. Todd Chase and Matthew James Webber took first and second prizes with scores of 2 points and 1.5 points respectively.

Todd Chase took first prize in the January G/25 with a perfect score of 3 points, while George Comeau took the first under-1500 prize with a score of 2 out of 3 points.

We are honored to welcome SM IM Denys Shmelov to our club. In a tough field that included Gregory Kaden, Todd Chase, and Frank Sisto, Denys took first prize in the First Friday in February with a score of 6 out of 7 points.

In our first Wild Card event in February, we held a 5-Round G/15. We were pleased to have Patrick Sciacca join us that night, and he and Tomas Girnius took first and second prizes with scores of 5 and 4 points respectively. We were also happy to welcome back Barbara Peskin. Free pizza was served that night, and I thank everyone who made donations to cover the cost.

Finally, I intend to publish regularly in Chess Horizons one featured game from a WCC tournament. If you have a score of a game that you’d like to see in print, turn it in to me and I’ll write up an article. Annotations are welcome but not necessary.

Thanks to all those who have come to Waltham on Friday night and helped our club to grow and prosper.

Nicholas P. Sterling, Ph.D.

Waltham Chess Club

Tournament Director

Waltham Chess Club – December 2009

Thank you to all the players who have come to the Waltham Chess Club recently and raised our attendance! We had so many people show up on the Friday before Columbus Day that we were able to run an impromptu unrated G/5! My goal is to crack an attendance of 16 so that we can have sections with at least 8 players in a section. So keep on coming and helping our club to be a success.

The Waltham Chess Club meets every Friday evening from 7 PM through the evening, sometimes burning the post-midnight oil. Our website is http://walthamchessclub.org, including directions to our site at the IBM Building (404 Wyman Street in Waltham), and our schedule of events (which can also be found on the MACA website calendar). Each month, we schedule most of the following events: a First Friday G/10, a two-round G/60, a three-round G/25 (all of these USCF rated), and an unrated G/5 Blitz. Our prizes come out of the cash from entry fees each night.

Masters play for free, as long as they have a 2200 Rating as of the latest Supplement, or can show they have a Life Master title.

We’ll have Free Pizza some nights, and we look forward to scheduling big special events with lots of prize money.

Some highlights from the last few months:

We were pleased to have GM Alexander Ivanov join us for the First Fridays in September and October, winning both events handily with perfect scores.

We were also pleased to have NM Charles Robert Riordan and expert Frank Sisto join us for the First Friday in November. They split first prize with tie scores of 6.5 out of 7 points.

Winston Huang took first prize in the Waltham November Triskaidekaphobia G/13, winning 6.5 out of 7 points. Congratulations to Winston.

Tomas Girnius, Steve DeSouza, and Homer Franck split first place three ways with scores of 2 points each at the Waltham Turkey Day G/60.

We gladly welcomed NM Lawyer Times back to the Club for the First Friday in December. He and Max Yarmolinsky split first prize, winning 6 points out of 7 each. James Thompson and Homer Franck split the Under 1550 prize with 3 points each.

Finally, I intend to publish regularly in Chess Horizons one featured game from a WCC tournament. If you have a score of a game that you’d like to see in print, turn it in to me and I’ll write up an article. Annotations are welcome but not necessary.

Happy chess-playing and all the best wishes for a safe and prosperous 2010.

Nicholas P. Sterling, Ph.D.

Waltham Chess Club

Tournament Director

Waltham Chess Club – September 2009

This is my first report to MACA as Tournament Director of the Waltham Chess Club. I have been regularly active as Director since November, 2008, and since I started, we have had a slowly but steadily increasing number of regular attendees to our Club. The Waltham Chess Club, after having endured a lengthy period of doldrums with distressingly low attendance, appears at last poised to enter a new period of renewed vigor. Rumors afoot of our demise are greatly exaggerated.

We meet every Friday evening from 7 PM on, and our website is http://walthamchessclub.org, including directions to our site at the IBM Building on Wyman Street in Waltham, and our schedule of events (which can also be found on the MACA website calendar). Each month, we schedule most of the following events: a First Friday G/10, a two-round G/60, a three-round G/25 (all of these USCF rated), and an unrated G/5 Blitz. Our prizes come out of the cash from entry fees each night.

Masters get to play for free, as long as they have a 2200 Rating as of the latest Supplement, or can show they have a Life Master title.

On some nights, we will bring in Free Pizza, and whoever is lucky enough to show up first will get some. The more people come regularly, the more Free Pizza we’ll bring in – and the more prize money we can award!

Some highlights from 2009:

Stephen Brudno took first prize in the First Friday in January, winning 6.5 points in 10 games in a Double Round-Robin.

Frank Sisto took first prize in the First Friday in March, winning 6.5 points in 7 rounds.

Joseph Perl took first prize in the First Friday in April, winning 4.5 points in 5 games in a Round Robin.

Todd Chase took first prize in the April G/60, winning a perfect 4 points. See my article on the Games page featuring his brilliant victory against me in Round 2.

Gregory Kaden and Todd Chase tied for first prize in the First Friday in June, both winning 6 points in 7 rounds.

Andrew Tichenor took first prize in the First Friday in July, winning 6 points in 7 rounds.

Max Enkin took first prize in the July G/25, winning a perfect 3 points, and in the First Friday in August, winning a perfect 7 points. Way to go, Max!

We may also schedule some big special events in the future, so stay tuned.

I heartily thank everyone who has played at our Club, and hope you will all come visit us regularly and often to keep our Club prospering and flourishing.